safedep/vet

Install • Docs • Commands • Policy • Discord

[!NOTE] This branch is vet v2, in alpha. vet v1 is on main and stays the latest release. The v2.0.0 release notes map each v1 command and flag to v2.

Why vet

Your dependencies, your GitHub Actions workflows and your AI agent configs run code that you did not write. vet finds the risk in them.

• Malicious packages. vet checks each package against SafeDep Threat Intel. Threat Intel analyzes new package versions when the registries publish them.
• Known vulnerabilities, with the fixed version to upgrade to.
• Risky workflows. Dangerous triggers, template injection, exposed secrets and actions with no pinned commit SHA.
• Lockfile tampering and fresh versions. Entries from an untrusted registry, and versions inside the cooldown window.
• Policy as code. Rules in CEL decide when a scan fails. You can test a rule on a saved scan.
• AI and crypto inventory. vet lists the AI libraries and the crypto algorithms that your code calls, and writes a CycloneDX xBOM and CBOM.

vet needs no account and sends no source code.

Quick start

brew install --cask safedep/tap/vet@edge
vet scan

vet scan --fail-on high                         # exit 1 on a high or critical finding
vet scan --base-ref origin/main --fail-on high  # report only what a pull request changes
vet report show --report sarif=vet.sarif        # write SARIF from the saved scan, with no new scan

Install

mise installs a release one day after its publication. install.md has the command for the newest build, the release binaries and the build attestations.

What vet scans

vet reads the lockfiles and manifests of npm, PyPI, Go, Maven, Gradle, Cargo, RubyGems, NuGet, Packagist, Pub and more. It also reads the GitHub Actions workflows and the AI agent configs of the target. It does not install or run any of them. Controls turn this data into findings. See controls.md.

Policy

A policy decides when a scan fails. Save this file as vet-policy.yml:

version: 2
rules:
  - id: no-malware
    description: A malicious or suspicious package fails the build.
    when: finding.family == "malware"
    action: fail
  - id: no-workflow-injection
    when: finding.control_id in ["dangerous-trigger", "template-injection"]
    action: fail
  - id: no-critical-vulnerability
    when: finding.control_id == "vulnerability" && finding.severity == "critical"
    action: fail
  - id: new-dependency-age
    description: A pull request cannot add a version that is less than 14 days old.
    when: package.change == "ADDED" && has(package.days_since_publish) && package.days_since_publish < 14
    action: fail
suppressions:
  - purl: pkg:npm/lodash@4.17.20
    reason: The upgrade to 4.18.1 is in pull request 42.
    expires: 2026-12-31

Test it on the last scan, with no new scan. Then apply it to a pull request:

vet report show last --policy vet-policy.yml
vet scan --base-ref origin/main --policy vet-policy.yml

After its expiry date, the suppression no longer hides the finding. Read policy.md for the rule fields, more rules and the Agent Skill that writes a policy for you.

Use cases

• Pull request check. The vet GitHub Action comments on a pull request that adds a package, a workflow or a finding, and fails the check on an attack. vet ci init adds it to a repository.
• CI gate. Exit codes, SARIF for GitHub code scanning, GitLab and Bitbucket reports. See ci.md.
• Pull request review. --base-ref reports only the packages and workflows that a change adds.
• xBOM and CBOM. A CycloneDX 1.7 inventory of the AI libraries and the crypto that your code uses. See inventory.md.
• AI agents. vet finds Claude Code and other agents, and then writes JSON and never prompts.
• Endpoint audit. vet endpoint audit lists the AI tools, MCP servers, editor extensions and global npm packages on a developer machine, and checks them for malware.

Documentation

Privacy

vet sends the identity of each package (its ecosystem, name and version) to SafeDep to get the data about it. vet sends no source code and no file content.

Community

• Ask questions and share ideas on Discord or in GitHub Discussions.
• Report a bug in the issue tracker.
• Read the contributing guide before you open a pull request.

vet also runs in the cloud. SafeDep Cloud runs vet on your repositories, with no infrastructure to manage.